Anchoring inserts are known which are designed to be embedded within prefabricated concrete components and are also known commonly as “slotted inserts” or more simply as “slots”.
These anchoring inserts are generally constituted by a box-like body, obtained simply by bending a metal plate or provided by welding a plurality of appropriately shaped metal plates, which generally has a substantially flat face, usually with a rectangular plan shape, crossed by an elongated slot. Such box-like body is embedded, during the manufacture of the prefabricated concrete component, within the body of the component so that the slotted face is substantially coplanar with respect to one of the faces of the component while the remaining part of the box-like body is embedded within the body of the article.
The function of these anchoring inserts is to provide coupling points, along the extension of the prefabricated component, for connecting elements, usually constituted by bolts, for other parts, generally other prefabricated concrete components or rails, utility raceways, machines or the like, in the construction of buildings. Typically, inserts of this type are used to connect, by means of bolt-type elements, the prefabricated panels of the face of a building to the back structure of the building.
One fundamental technical problem in the design of these inserts is to achieve the intended resistance of the insert to separation from the component in which it is embedded, with a minimal depth of the insert, where depth is the dimension of the insert at right angles to the face of the component that supports the insert and generally is the dimension of the insert along the thickness of the component.
A reduced depth of the insert, for an equal performance, in fact allows to use the same insert for a wide range of components and reduces the problems linked to its embedding in the component.
Currently, in order to meet this need, inserts have been provided which have particular shapes so as to increase as much as possible the surface of contact between the insert and the concrete and/or so as to provide, on the outer surface of the insert, adequate anchoring undercuts for the concrete.
Moreover, various types of accessories to be associated with the insert before its embedding in the body of the component have been developed, such as for example riveting shoes, rivets, screws, ribbed rods to be inserted through holes of the insert, brackets to be welded to the body of the insert, et cetera. These accessories protrude from the body of the insert, and by being embedded in the concrete of the body of the component increase the cohesion between the insert and the component, thus increasing the resistance of the insert to separation from the component.
All these refinements suffer the drawback of complicating the manufacture of the insert and often do not allow to combine a preset resistance to separation with the intended depth for the insert.